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'Chavez has faced complications as a result of a severe respiratory infection. This infection has led to respiratory deficiency that requires Commander Chavez to remain in strict compliance with his medical treatment,' Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Thursday night, reading the statement on television.

The statement raised the possibility that Chavez might be breathing with the assistance of a machine.

But the government did not address that question and didn't give details of the president's treatment.

Concerns: With rumors swirling that Chavez, left, had taken a turn for the worse, Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro, right, said the ailing president's condition remains 'delicate' three weeks after his cancer surgery

The government expressed confidence in Chavez's medical team and condemned what it called a 'campaign of psychological warfare' in the international media regarding the president's condition.

SUCCESSOR READY TO TAKE OVER

Following news that Hugo Chavez's cancer had returned in December, the president officially named Vice President Nicolas Maduro as his successor.

Maduro has been an
active member of the country's government since Chavez assumed power in
1998.

The 50-year-old Maduro has been close friends with Chavez since the 1980s.

He got into politics as a teenager, joining the Socialist League, which sent him to Cuba for training in union organising.

He then became a union organiser in the Caracas Metro system, for which he served as a bus driver.

Maduro
worked as a coordinator during Chavez's first presidential election and
later became a congressman and president of the assembly until 2006.

As
vice president, Maduro has been key in designing the country's radical
anti-imperialist policy. He has worked to grow Venezuela's relationship
with Iran, Russia and China.

Officials have urged Venezuelans not to heed rumors about Chavez's condition.

In its latest statement, the government didn't point to any particular rumors but said 'this campaign aims ultimately to destabilize the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ... and end the Bolivarian Revolution led by Chavez.'

Venezuela's opposition has demanded that the government provide more specific information about Chavez's condition.

Chavez has undergone four cancer-related surgeries since June 2011 for an undisclosed type of pelvic cancer.

He also has undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

He was re-elected in October to another six-year term, and two months later announced that the cancer had come back.

This week, the president’s elder brother Adan joined a parade of visitors who saw Chavez in Havana, and then returned to Caracas.

The Venezuelan Constitution says the presidential oath should be taken January 10 before the National Assembly, and officials have raised the possibility that Chavez might not be well enough to do that, without saying what will happen if he can’t.

Hope: A supporter of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez holds a picture of him, as she attends to a ceremony in Caracas on New Year's Eve

Support: Many people gathered to pray for the president at the church in Caracas